We have been hot on the trail of widgets ever since we found Konfabulator back in Feb. Apple of course, released a competing platform called Dashboard, then Yahoo bought Konfabulator, and today we got newds that Microsoft was getting into the widget wars with an upcoming product called Microsoft Gadgets.

Microsoft Gadgets come in three flavors:
1. Gadgets for Windows Sidebar will run on your desktop or dock into Windows Sidebar, an upcoming feature in Windows Vista alongside other applications. Desktop Gadgets can developed using Windows Presentation Foundation, DHTML/Atlas, and even ActiveX controls. The beauty of Desktop Gadgets is that they are visually and programmatically rich – scaling from vector-based graphics and managed code to standard techniques you’d use for the Web.

More Microsoft Gadget Widget Info Here